BEIJING: China released on Friday its first survey report of the South China Sea’s disputed Sabina Shoal, saying there was no scientific or factual basis for reef damage claims made by the Philippines.
In the report by the natural resource ministry conducted from May to July, it found that key habitat index values in the reef area were within the suitable growth range of the coral reef system.
“As for the claim concocted by the Philippines that China’s artificial accumulation of coral debris at Xianbin Reef has caused a large number of coral bleaching and death in the region, there is no scientific or factual basis,” the report said.
Xianbin Reef, also known as Sabina Shoal, is in disputed waters of the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands.
China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. Both countries have had clashes over competing claims at several atolls in the sea, where $3 trillion worth of trade passes annually.
The Philippine coast guard has accused China of building an artificial island at Sabina Shoal, while China has said “illegal” beaching by Philippine warships at the Nansha Islands had “gravely damaged” the coral reef ecosystem in the area.
In the report, China said a Philippine coast guard ship that has “illegally” stayed at the shoal has had an adverse impact on the surrounding natural environment.
“Affected by waves and currents, anchors and anchor chains will cause continuous damage to the surrounding reefs, and (the Philippines) have also sent small boats to operate on the surrounding reefs many times,” said a senior engineer for China’s Ministry of Natural Resources.
On Sunday, near the Sabina Shoal, the Philippine South China Sea task force said Chinese vessels rammed and used water cannons against a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries ship transporting food, fuel and medical supplies for Filipino fishermen.
China says no scientific, factual basis for Philippines’ damage claims at Sabina Shoal
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China says no scientific, factual basis for Philippines’ damage claims at Sabina Shoal
- Survey report finds that key habitat index values in the reef area were within the suitable growth range of the coral reef system
- Xianbin Reef, also known as Sabina Shoal, is in disputed waters of the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands, which China calls the Nansha Islands
Sequestered Suu Kyi overshadows military-run Myanmar election
- Suu Kyi’s reputation abroad has been heavily tarnished over her government’s handling of the Rohingya crisis
YANGON: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been siloed in military detention since a 2021 coup, but her absence looms large over junta-run polls the generals are touting as a return to democracy.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate was once the darling of foreign diplomats, with legions of supporters at home and a reputation for redeeming Myanmar from a history of iron-fisted martial rule.
Her followers swept a landslide victory in Myanmar’s last elections in 2020 but the military voided the vote, dissolved her National League for Democracy party and has jailed her in total seclusion.
As she disappeared and a decade-long democratic experiment was halted, activists rose up — first as street protesters and then as guerrilla rebels battling the military in an all-consuming civil war.
Suu Kyi’s reputation abroad has been heavily tarnished over her government’s handling of the Rohingya crisis.
But for her many followers in Myanmar, her name is still a byword for democracy, and her absence on the ballot, an indictment it will be neither free nor fair.
The octogenarian — known in Myanmar as “The Lady” and famed for wearing flowers in her hair — remains under lock and key as her junta jailers hold polls overwriting her 2020 victory. The second of the three-phase election began Sunday, with Suu Kyi’s constituency of Kawhmu outside Yangon being contested by parties cleared to run in the heavily restricted poll.
Suu Kyi has spent around two decades of her life in military detention — but in a striking contradiction, she is the daughter of the founder of Myanmar’s armed forces.
She was born on June 19, 1945, in Japanese-occupied Yangon during the final weeks of WWII.
Her father, Aung San, fought for and against both the British and the Japanese colonizers as he sought to secure independence for his country.
